Timelinez

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Tachinkindinkotintininlonleol | M E LI] IN| 5 Zz

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY 1987 $1.00

THE JOINT NEWSLETTER OF THE THREE TIMEX-SINCLAIR

USER GROUPS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
Bese EF BZUG PUG SVSTUG **x%

LISTING on yrYourR PRINTER
by William J. Pedersen

Can you LLIsST a& single program line?
cam you LLIST without interference from standard graphics?
Cam you print a listing of all lines you want £o Telacate so
¥Ou Tan create MERGE program eets?
Can you amit the LLISTing frogr
Daes your interface do what i
Can you FORMAT the LLISTing as you wish?

ou lu
i
—& O
Why the SYae note! =
<i *
- x CO
All these features represent deficiencies in commercial LLIST i 2
rograms, MOsStiy it is ¢aused by A lack oF Fecagnitian that x
PRINT & LIST refer t5 the SCREEN but LPRINT & LLIST refer te 4a a
PRINTER. The two CANNOT be treated alike, The "advantage" of is
using Fokens in print Stringt applies only £0 the FR4H Printer, ca .
NO Other printer is compatible with T2668 tokens. mor is there ao
ae any Teason far them ¢c5 be, Sticking with Bure ASCII. with no pan
Ve ; : —
BxXtensions, lets you talk with almost ALL available printers, z=
. tei
m & Uo
The program LLIST@d here has none oF the problems listed. If Eat
converts common tokens to ASCII. Ie ignores color commands and a
Number slugs which Should Tot Brifit anyway, Te Converts the Few 2 Oo
remMAaiNiINgG uNnprintaAble characters toa "FF", OM ERR, SOUND & RESET ear
are treated as cAaractrers, not takens, UGGs are not printable, 2S =
they appear as "7", it
u ca
a = S nhes ion: ei i: =, 77; & i. 1 & ul
You fan LLIST any number of linet, iti any order. rrom ane <6 OTF
the entire BASIC, You an jump around +90 colleetr them, ae
Pi
TRE Pragram is written in relocatable Farmas All reigtive * ee
JUMPS And the program location depend on a2 ingle KEYWORD fk: ape ie
Move it anywhere you need For MERGE comPatibility. just be zw
= 1 : = $ i; TR ~ mm Lt om rao) 4
Sure tO update the value of Wk ain the Present LINE Fea. YOu oc
might want to change the name Fram Wk to BamMething else ne
eet
Though the program is entirely in BASIC: if takes advantage oF wu Ok
the pawerful editing capabilities of the TS2948, Tt a3 anciden- ath
tAl that you can Follow the progress on the screen,
If yOu’re® Frugal. and nate +O waste paper, set Margian=8. Wide= ee
the maximum (807) For your printer, and ser YWaosG@ in LINE PFA. ti
ke
im IF you’re conventional, and want your listing to lock 4 Much
= like the screen 45 Possible, set Margin=15, Widesge, and Waa.
.
i!

| you're really with it, and like your listings indented ror
Maximum readability, try Margin=19, Wider=s4, and WA=l.

~267-

IMELINE _ =

MuULtTI-—TASK IM On THE TrIMEx 20682
VSInNG Ze INTERUPT MODE = bi

BY FRED TEMPLETON CEBZUG)

Using interupt mode 2 on the TIMEX 2868 is no easy matter. The normal use of interupt mode
2 is accomplished by using a combination of the interupt vector register providing the hi
byte of an address and the interupting device providing the lo byte of an address to be
called. To utilize the 2848's t6ms interupt for your own purposes you would normally have
to use interupt mode 1 in a machine language program that is on an EPROM in the cartridge
dock chunk @. You would then have sose interupt handling program at address 88856 to do
the multi-tasking. It is also possible to use interupt mode 1! from a RAM located progres

his

that turns on the EXROM and captures the interupt from the bank switching process: e
ching. ere

does limit the use of the BASIC system ROM without additional use of bank swi
must be other techniques too.

One way to avoid all the bank switching problems is to use interupt aode 2. To do this you
must ignore the note #2 at the bottom of page 269 of the 2068's user manual. The I
register may hold a value from @@8 to @63 or from 128 to 255. For some reason the |
register may not hold a value from @64 to 127, this may have something to do with the
process of Site ee the video output. Before you can invoke interupt mode 2 you must
e lish a 257 (mot 256!!!) byte interupt table in RAM somewhere starting at the peg a uns
256 byte page, ie. the first address aust have a lo byte address of 0@@. ddress
is the first such address that you can use, as the hi hag address of this location
8 which would be the number which would be loaded into the I register should you use
as the ses ny of the interupt table. A wore likly place for the interupt table
be nearer the top of RAM so that you could be using some BASIC progres while the
interupt progra@s are running in the background. If you are usin BASIC while interupt
mode 2 is turned on then you should protect the hi RAM by lowering RAMTOP to the next lower
unused address. You must also make sure that the BASIC program does not POKE anything into
the table thereby causing a crash.

tab
768
2
d
r

e you have decided where to put the 257 bytes you will put the same hi and ilo address
(257 of thea, that will be the call address of the interupt servicing routine. The
ts the servicing routine to 19@ locations in RAM where the hi and lo bytes of the
ess of the routine are the same. For example if the interupt table contained 257 aires
the value of 248 then the interupt service program would have to be located at 6 688
+256*248) this could be a JUMP to a aore suitable address. The reason for this is that
system generated interupt does not place a lo address on the bus as agec hres in normal
rupt mode 2 operation, so whatever address happens to be on the bus is used in
unction with the I register to find the interupt table. The normal restriction is that
address placed on the bus must be even-numbered, but you will not know the number on
bus so it could be odd. I[f it happens to be 255 then it is odd and the 254th and 257th
tes would be use for the call address which is why 257 bytes are required.

e
J

Terre n rt ~ EF ww

So now that you have an interupt table properly addressed and an interupt servicing program
at some eee ee ae location there are some more things to do before a can get
multi-tasking to work. Qne is to establish what I will call a vector table. I[t can be as
long as you need allowing 2 bytes for each entry. If there are 208 (unlikely) routines you
want to execute after each interupt, then the table muct be 408 bytes long. You will be
POKEing (or LOADing from machine code) addresses into the table when you want a particular
routine to be executed with each interupt; then POKEing them back to 8 when you want them
to stop. To turn a task on from BASIC, POKE the Io byfe first and then the hi byte last.
This is necessary incase an interupt is received between the two POkKEs. To turn 3 off you
must POKE the hi byte to @ first and then the lo byte last. If the combination of the
servicing program and the called routines exceeds the loms interupt period then it will be
necessary to leave interupts disabled. The BASIC program will only have the balance of the
last Tprer oe. period to run the BASIC interperter, therefore if the interupting sequence
takes up 99% of the interupt periad then the BASIC program will run at only 1% of noreal
speed. I the prune 08 sequence takes 101% of an interupt period then the BASIC progras
will run 49.5% of normal speed, this threshold will cause several probleas. If you BASIC
program uses timing, then when ever a full interupt period is exceeded the timing will be
wrong unless you compensate for it. If your BASIC program 1s slowed to 1% normal spent it
would probable be useless (unless you want to watch a BASIC program be single stepped).

The service program aust then get the addresses from the vector table and CALL the routins
hen the coaplete vector table has been checked then there

11 one more thing to do. The last item of the servicin i should be a JUMP hd
L) to address 08056 of the HOME ROM, this will complete the normal interupt mode 1
: ine which updates FRAMES, scans the keyboard, enables interupts, and RETurns to where
it came froe.

IMELINE

With everthing in place you still need a

wWyaachine code routine to LOAD the I register

with the hi byte of the first address of
the interupt table and to turn on interupt
mode 2. This aust be the last thing you
do. It is a good idea to SAVE everything
first before you execute this. You might
also want a routine to turn interupt mode 1
back on, which turns interupt aode 2 off
without having to POKE the vector table
back to 6's.

In Summary when a interupt is received the
@icroprocessor PUSHes the next executable
address onto the stack. The I register is
used in conjunction with the bus to find
the interupt table. The interupt table
then points to the service program which in
turn looks for addresses on the vector
table to be CALLed. When all is CALLed
then there is a JUMP to 008546 to complete
the process and RETurn to the address on
the top of the stack.

Why do all of this? I did it to be able to
include a print spooler in the
< 700 e ieee seen I wrote. It turned out so

well IT added an input buffer,
clock/calendar, and clock display. Even
with my word-processor located in chunk 1
of the Cartridge Dock, I can begin a
print-out to ay EPSON printer, print-out
some other part of the text file to the
2648 printer, or QUIT the word-processor to
the normal BASIC operating systea and then
LPRINT, LLIST, or COPY to the 2048 printer
at the same time the EPSON is running. I
have had up to five things going at one
time in addition to the BASIC program and
not noticed to much of a slow down of a
BASIC programs. To the right is @ print-out
of my asseably code to turn IM2 off, create
the interupt table, turn IM2 on, and the
service prograam. Note that the vector
table is located in the end of the nomally
unused part of STRMS systea variables. I
use the first vector table address pair
exclusively for the print spooler; the
address is not CAlLLed if the EPSON printer
is not ON LINE. I can also stop the print
spooler with a three key break (CAPS
“UIFT/SYMBL SHIFT/N).

For additional clarification call or write.
Fred Teapleton (415-734-5575)

520 Northbrook Ct.

Antioch, CA 94589

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L2BGG SS INTERRUPT HODE 2
ORG 23851 TURM IHS OFF
IM i

RET

ORG 22584: INTERUPT TABLE
Lo HL. &4880; H=ZSG L=t
Lit FLA

LOO Lo (HL , SS: AT Boi
THO L

JF HE, LoGr

THD

LE HL: ,@s SSPtR BYTE
Lf F,8; AHI BYTE OF TeELE
IM 2; TURH IH2 ON
RET

INMTERLIET SERUICE
AGG 22S81; S34+f55405
PUSH HL: SSE REGISTERS
FUSH DE

Sisk BG

PUSH OF

Fe OF oF

FUSH AF

; S$ KEY STOP FRINT-OUT
LO &,254; BOTTOM LEFT Bou
Im A, f2S4

REE: PARS SHIFT REY
JR OC UEC TORS Mad DG
LO A, LEP: BOTTOM RIGHT Rau
Th 4, (254)

AND LB: SYM SHIFT & H KEYS
JAMS, VEOTORS ; MOT DOWN
Lio L.A) Se

Lie HLA

Lo fimeged ML: STRHALE OFF
: CRINMTER STATUS
MESCTORS LD Bl, toi

IN Os (G1 ; EPSON?
BIT @,02;8=sFRINTER OM LIWE
LOD &.8: VECTOR TABLE B3IZE
Lf HL, SS685: HI STRNSHLS
JR 2,S7RMS: PRINTER READY
DEC &; PRINTER HOT READS
DEC HL: TGNORE FIRST
PEC Fi. MECTOR ENTERS
‘ Late 8ST HUERTOR TRELE
STEMS LD &, HL; HI BYTE
ae A: =i
Lo & 48 SAE IT
DEC HL: GET LO BYTE
LO &. HL} SAUE IT
LOD ftcsetlleb! . DE: CALL AEDRS
PUSH HL XQ

PUSH BC

cali CALL HE ° A: VECTORED:!
POP BC

POP HL

DEC HL: HET HI
DUNZ STRMS: REPEAT E TIMES
TICK THE SLOce
LC foe! 3 A.

BIT 5, (Ilv4+46 FLAGS2
Jem 2Z,CLR

GES S,ilv445); AbuUsST For
Lo 6,18; PELETE REPEATS
CLE PUSH Bt

CALL CLOCK AHO CALENDAR
Poe BC

Duh Le

Por AF: RESTORE REGISTERS
Ex OF AF

POP AP

POP 6c

Poe DE

POP HL

JF S56; FRAMES. KSCAH. EI

IMELINE

DEF FN SPECTRUM STYLE / PROGRAM SWAP 270

Bod Orrfelt has brought it to our attention that some sections of
the 2068 User Manual are inferior to the Spectrum Manual. Bob has \w
supplied TIMSLINEZ with a cony of the Spectrum Guide and from time

to time we will reprint sections that may be of interest to our

readers. This month we examine DEF FN.

You can also define functions of you own. Possible names for these are FN
followed by a letter (if the result is a number) or FN followed by a letter followed by §
{if the result is a string). These are much stncter about brackets: the argument must
be enclosed in brackets.

You define a function by putting a DEF statement somewhere in the program. For
instance, here is the definition of a function FN s whose result is the square of the
argument:

10 DEF FN s(x)=x°x: REM the square of x

DEF is obtained in extended mode. using SYMBOL SHIFT and 1. When you type
this, the computer will give you FN automatically, because in a DEF statement the
DEF is always followed immediately by FN. After this. the s completes the narne FN
8 of the function.

The x in brackets 1s a name by which yOu wish to refer to the argument of the
function. You can use any single letter you like for this (or. if the argument ts a stning,
@ single letter followed by §).

After the = sign comes the actual definition of the function. This can be any
expression, and it can also refer to the argument using the name you've given it (in
this Case, x) as though it were an ordinary vanable.

When you have entered this line, you can invoke the function just like one of the
computer's own functions, by typing its name, FN 8, followed by the argument.
Remember that when you have defined a function yourself, the argument must be
enclosed in brackets. Try it out a few times:

PRINT FN s(2)
PRINT FN s(3+4)
PRINT 1+iNT FN 8 (LEN “chicken”/2+3)}

Once you have put the corresponding DEF statement into the program, you can
use your Own functions in expressions just as freely as you can use the computer's.

Note’ in some dialects of BASIC you must even enciose the argument of one of
the computer's functions in brackets This ts not the case in ZX Spectrum BASIC

INT always rounds down. To round to the nearest integer, add 5 first — you could
write your own function to do this.

20 DEF FN rix)=INT (x+0.5): REM gives x rounded to the nearest
integer.

You will then get, for instance,

FN ri2.9) = 3 FN 72.4) = 2
FN ri-29) = -3 FN r{-24) = -2

Compare these with the answers you get when you use INT instead of FN r
Type in and run the following:

10 LET x=@: LET y=@: LET a=18
26 DEF FN pix.yisat+x*y

30 DEF FN q{)=a+x*y

46 PRINT FN p(2,3).FN af)

There are a lot of subtie points in this program.

First, @ function is not restricted to yust one argument: it can have more, or even
ncne at all — but you must stil always keep the brackets

Second, it doesn't matter whereabouts in the Program you put the DEF
staternents. After the cornputer has executed line 19, it simply skips over lines 28
and 38 to get to line 40. They do. however, have to be somewhere in the program
They can't be in a command.

Third, x and y are both the names of variabies in the program as a whole, and the
names of arguments for the function FN p. FN p temporarily forgets about the
variables called x and y. but since it has no argument called a@, it still remembers the
variable a. Thus when FN p({2,3) 1s being evaluated, @ has the value 1@ because It (s
the variable, x has the value 2 because it is the first argument, and y has the value 3
because it is the second argument. The result is then, 16+2*3= 16. When FN a} is
being evaluated, on the other hand, there are no arguments, so #, x and y all still refer
to the vanables and have vaiues 18. @ and @ respectively. The answer in this case is
104+0°O= 10.

Now change line 20 to

20 DEF FN pix.yl=FN af)

This time, FN p(2,3) will have the value 1@ because FN q will still go back to the
vanables ® and y rather than using the arguments of FN p.

Some BASICs {not the ZX Spectrum BASIC) have functions called LEFT$, RIGHTS.
MIDS and TLS.

LEFTS (a$.n) gives the substring of a$ consisting of the first m characters.
RIGHTS ({a$.n) gives the substring of a$ consisting of the characters from mth on.
MiD$ {a$. n1. n2) gives the substring of a$ consisting of n2 characters starting at

the ntth |
TLS {a$) gives the substring of a$ consisting of ail its characters except the first.
You can write some user-defined functions to do the same: e.g.

1@ DEF FN t$(a$)=a$(2 TO }. REM TLS
20 DEF FN I${a$,n}=a${ TO n}: REM LEFTS

Check that these work with strings of length @ or 1

Note that our FN t§ has two arguments, one a number and the other a string. A
function can have up to 26 numeric arguments (why 26?) and at the same time up to
26 string arguments

Exercise
Use the function FN s(xj=x*x to test SQR you should find that

FN s(SOR x)=x
if you substitute any positive number for x. and
SOR FN s{x)=ABS x

whether x IS positive or negative (Why the ABS?)

NEAT TIME : BEEP

The following letter was received from John Ww
Riley who is the S/W Librarian for the CATS
User Groupe John has given us permission to

extend his offer for non-commercial S/W to
all the TIMELIN5Z readers. A listing of his

progra™s can be found on the next page.

Jonn Riley
1316 Farrara Dr.
Odenton, Maryland 211133

Thank you for showing your interest in the Captito!l Area Timex-
Sinclair User’s Group program library. We are interested in
expanding our stock of useful public domain programs by trading
the ones we have for some that you have' Here is the deal we
oft¢er. If you will] send us one or more useful and interesting
programs on # tape in a Post Oftice-proof mailer and inciude
return postage inside the mailer, I will put your program into
our library and then record the volume of your choice from the
three volumes listed Below, I will! also include our Spectrum
catalog (small though it may be) if you will) mention that you
want it. By the way, good Spectrum programs are welcome, too!
TAKE NOTE, HOWEVER: 1) The programs you submit must NOT be ones
that mre commerrtiatly go oguced' 2) You MUST include return
postege inside you” gerkage, or I cannot get the programs back
to you' 3) The programs MUST be for the 20668 or Spectrum! 4)
The prograrts' you submit MUST be of acceptable quality, not
somethieg that anyone could dash off in five minutes of
programming!

Still interested? Great ' Send we your goodies, tell me which
volume of programs you want, and together we will increase ea
other's enjoyment and usefulness of pur 2068 machines!

Sincerely Yours,

Jann Riley

yvertect date.

IMELINE

###\'o lume One --- Games

DATE -- A sham computer ized dating service program that tends to
‘atch people up with the likes of Attila the Hun as their most
Great fun at Valentine's Day Parties!

SAILING -- An interesting little simulation game by our own Mark
Fisher.

TRAIN -- Novel use of sound and graphics in this little program.
Good train wreck!

KENO -~ A computer adaptation, we are told, of an ancient
Chinese betting game.

SPACEWAR -~ Another Mark Fisher creation. We are invited to blow
the opposition to dust with proximity bombs. Not just a
shoot-em-up, though.

TAG -- A frustrating game in wnich we are to get a reluctant
colored square to go where we want it.

EGG SAVIOR -- Arcade style.
guns.

Rescue the eggs from nasty laser
HUNCHY -- Arcade in which you are the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Rescue Esmerelda!

STAR TREK -- The CLASSIC game that everyone used to sneak onto
the mainframes at college in the days of yore.

BRICK-YARD BILL -- Arcade-style, help Bill stack bricks without
hemming himself in. Quite difficult.

BRIDGE ~~ Build a bridge by dropping sections from a helicopter
before a blind man can fall into the river.

TWISTS -~ Restore @ 4x4 Rubic’s Cube face to its original
configuration before the time runs out. Very challenging.

MINOTAUR -- Find the exit to a maze, collecting invisible
objects along the way, before the Minotaur gets you!

DEATHRACE -- Run down innocent pedestrians with your race car.
Cute little tombstones mark the scene of their demise.

*YEAKOUT -~ A Basic version of the classic Atari game.

GELS -- A space-invaders arcade gane.

MOONLANDER -- Land your lander safely on the Moon. I went
*SPLAT* every time.

#e8VoOlume 2 --- Educational & Utilities

SPANISH TUTOR -- self-explanatory.

GEOGRAPHY -- An unfinished states and capitals program. Someone

#411 1% out, please!
COLOR PLOT -- A drawing program aimed at children’s use.

COLOR DOODLE -- A variation on the above program that makes
blockier pictures.

DRAW =~ 2 more sophisticated drawing program.
SPECDRAW -- An even more sophisticated graphics progras,
featuring 18 sizes of text, €1231, #our-point banding and more.

You really need @ k@yboard overiay for this one!

PIXFIX -- The minner of the Syncware News contest for graphics
software. Gives yOu pixel By pixel control of the screen.

WOLVERINE -- A&A Bample picture drawn on Pixfix,
RANDOM FAN -- Pretty!

PIE CHART -- Makes pie charts from data you supply.
3D SHAPE -- Drans ‘en.

BARCHART ~-- Generates a barchart from your date.

HEADLINE and BANNER -- Both of these generate large-size words
running B81ide-Hays on a 2040 printer.

“A“TTOR -- A&A utility for creating user-defined graphics.

Nees -- Does the same as the program above, with a slightly
different approach.

CHARACTERS -- Throws the 2068 character set onto an 8x8 grid,
and gives tne numerical value of each line of pixels.

64 COLUMN -- A basic program that shifts the 2068 into 64-column
mOdEe, Too sliow to be useful, but it is educational.

PROGRAM SWAP (CONT. )

#k# Volume 3 --- More Utilities
HEADSCAN -- A header-reader program that is @ must tor anyone

who wants to transfer multi-load programs to another tape or
disk format.

SCANNER ~- A very interesting program that takes an audic input
from the MIC jack and gives a running graphic reading of it.

VIDEOFILE -- A computerized #iling system for your videotape
library.

TAPESCHED -- Computerizes your weekly videotaping schedule.
BANKREC -- g@ computer checkbook balancing program.

LISTS -~- Simply the best public domain data base that I know of
for the 2068. The only way to beat it is to buy ProFile.

FORMULARY -- A darkroom-chemistry mixing guide for photograhers
who do their own developing.

FIRSTLOAD -- the mc Program that translates TS1000 programs into
2066 programs.

MCEDIT -- Not McDonald’s latest offering, but rather a simple
machine code editor.

MICLOADER, -- A simple mc loader.

BOLD -- Redefines the 2068 character set into fatter letters and
symbols. A 2040 printer will them print them that way.

FLIP -- Rotates a screen 90 degrees every time you press the
button!

CRYPTO -- Creates a simple substitution cypher that you define.
WEX -- @ hexidecimal loader.

HEXSPEC -- a Spectrum hex loader. I s’pose it would work with

a 2068 too.

TOMORROW -- a primitive word processor that has a nice
personality.

INTERPOLATE ~-- interpolates a graph from the data you supply.

HRHLHHE NOTE BH#HHH THE NEXT THREE PROGRAMS ARE SOME OF JACK
DOHANEY'S FAIRWARE. IT IS GOOD STUFF!: X URGE YOU IF YOU FIND
YOURSELF USING THESE TO SEND A FEW DOLLARS TO JACK IN GRATITUDE
FOR DOING THESE THINGS FOR US.

EXTENDED BASIC -- Adds nine new commands to our standard basic,
which significantly enhance the 2068’s sound and animation
facilities.

KEYWORD -- Disables the single-stroke keyword system and al law
one to type in Basic commands directly rom the keyboard, jest
like the Other Guys’ computers.

TOOLKIT -- a programmer’s utility which includes Renumber,
Remkill, and a Compactor.

THE SPECTRUM CATALOG '! (SHORT k SWEET)

ANIMATE -- @ graphics utility which generates a 3D picture trom
your 1D bisection, rotates and recreates this picture 6 times,
ance then pages these pictures sequentially to achieve a spinnine
animation effect.

GALACTOIDS -- A space-invader type of game that is fast,
furious, and infuriatingly difficult.
BLOCKMAN -- A more sedate but still challenging arcade game that

features horizontal scrolling of subsets of the game board.

IMELINE

PUG NEWS
by Norm Lehfeldt

ARRIVAL OF SCLD CHIPS FOR 2068
HIGHLIGHTS JANUARY PUG MEETING

The long-awaited SCL9 chips for the 2048 were
distributed by Pat Morrissey tc those who had ordered thes at
the November aeeting. These are the custom chips that are the
heart of the 2068 and which cannot be obtained from usual
electronic parts sources. Pat is retaining two of the chips
for club use and reports that some are stiii available fron
CATS for those who may wish to have a iittle hardware
insurance against the time when ‘Little Rock stops doing
repairs.

Also at the January seeting:

Rita Toth reports that the prison project is Gack on
track after some setbacks due to troubles at the prison.
Equipment we have supplied is getting good use.

Rita has now been handling this project far a year now
and it is time te pass it along to someone else. This has
been a very successful project and a volunteer is needed ts
continue it.

Plans for the May T/S Computer Fest in Indianapolis are
shaping up. The organizers are soliciting contributions and
other support from groups throughout the country. I[t is ts
our advantage to participate in any wav that we can, since
the success at such events will prolong the life of our
favorite computer. Paul Holmgren ot I5TU6 is the Executive
Director of the Fest. We will be sending sete of back issues
of ’TIMELINE?’ to the event.

Bob Orrfelt is working on an enhanced 7X81 based on the
kits available at Sunset Electronics, It will have a {6K
EPQOM in place of the original ROM and 2k internal neaory.

Treasurer Pat Morrissey reminds everyone to pay dues.
Each issue af *TIMLINEZ* costs us about $465.99 to print and
Bali.

Bill Miller is urging Silicon Valley Group members to
attend PUG meetings. There are some problems with meeting
sites for the Silicon Valley Group. Bill also says that a 7/5
Special Interest Group is being established as part of the
Computer Workshop at Stanford. News about the workshop is
available on the Public Domain Software Exchange -- 408 725
72390 -- 3606/1200 baud.

Walt Johnson demonstrated his 4" Sony Watchman
TY/Monitor as a screen for the 2068. It produces readable

displays with MSCRIPT -- and it matches the tasteful Time:
silver livery!

Next PUG meeting on February i5.

er

272

SVSTUG NEWS \w
by Bill Miller

l. geet Meetings:
1.1 January 27, Tuesday, 7:00 P.N.3; E) Casino Hospital,
Meeting Room A (in basement), 2500 brant Road,
Mountain View.
1.2 February 15, Sunday, 1:00 P.M; Peninsula Hospital,
Trousdale heeting Roos {in baseaent), Burlingase.
1.3 March 15, Sunday, 1:00 P.M.3 Peninsula Hospital.
1.4 Every Saturday, 9:00 A.M; btanford vabyeran Jordan Hall
{in the Quadrangle), Math Building (Nuaber 3 $) in roos
S80C (downstairs). For topic, check the PDSE (Public
Domain Software Exchange) BBS in Sunnyvale at
408 735-7390, 300/1200, 8, N, 1, 24 HRS, 32 lines (no
ty Uae
2. GUTS/SV Meeting News:
2.1 The 861230 GUTS/SV {SVSTUG?) meeting was lightly attended,
Maybe it was because of the new location or the holidays.
Mark Wahl reported he has completed the design of the
message handler for his 751000 BBS. It will use variable
Jength records to store the aessages in the 32K-b4K aeaory
locations of the 1$1000.
Mark intends to pattern his sodea interface after the one
used in Randy and ey Gordon’s ’Tiny Board’ BBS.
If you want current intoraation on how Mark is J eg
ou aight try leaving hia a aessage on the Sunnyvale PDS

2.2 The 870110 BUTS/SV (TCW TS SIG {The Computer Workshop Tiaex
Sinclair Special Interest Group)?) featured a deaonstration
of the latest hardware and software for the Asiga, given *~
Claus Wiebe.

Claus deaonstrated a 2MB expansion unit for the Asiga and
also the Amiga’s 4096 color capability.

Bob Orrtelt reported he is working on a TS1000/ sodel
railroad controller unit. This unit will utilize the 32K x
: apatie Raa saesory chips ($19 at FRY’S) with battery

ackup.

Bob also provided SLIX with informatica on the User Friendly
Research boards: ZXTALKER, 2ZXPANDER, REAL TIME CLOCK,

& A/D CONVERTER,

These were donated to the TIMELINEZ groups about 851202 by
Leland Harker?

3. SLIX (SincLink Information eXchange) needs help! We have been
using ’Master Tool Kit’ from OCP to help with the Newsletter
Exchange, but it uses up 9K and we don’t need all it’s
features,

Also, if we load ’Master Tool Kit’ from WafaDrive we can’t
get it to operate, so we have to load it from cassette. Yuk!
What we need, is the features we have found aost useful froe

’Master Tool Kit? plus a couple of additional ones as either

BASIC or Machine Code routines or BASIC extensions such as

the WafaDrive, ZX Microdrive, or Tisex Portugal disc add.
Features needed are: .

3.1 Delete- Since we are operating in the Spectrua sode we can’t
use the 7S2068 DELETE.

3.2 Renumber- with range, starting line number, & increaent able
to be apee het

3.3 Find- but unlike ’Tool Kit’, the result can be assigned to a
BASIC variable- either line nuaber or line contents.

5.4 Sort- We keep our aail jist as DATA statements. Each record
(Exchange Newsletter address and info) is stored as one
DATA statement. It would be nice to be able to sort thea.

3.9 Write- The opposite of READ, take a BASIC variable (string)
and put it in a DATA stateaent.

If you would like to nee contact: Bill Miller 7

409 253-3175, 475 Clifford Dr., Cupertino, CA,

95014-4530,

Ww

Ne

IMELINE

EBZUG NEWS
BY FRED TEMPLETON

REPORT ON MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 1987

The meeting was attended by approximately
15 members, most of which arrived in dry
weather. Those who stayed late got soaked
by the rain when they left.

After any discussion it was decided by vote to include
"TIMEXY-SINCLAIR® in the official name of our fos It was
felt that the sore inforaative nase would yee ef ential
members find us. USER GROUP listings in COMPUTER currents,
THE MICROTINES, and COMPUTER SHOPPEX, atc which indentify
us only by initials aay not be inviting for those who are
looking for us.

The next eeeting date of February 26th was confiraed with
the library office. Future ae at the library seem to
be questionable. At least three of our aeabers have
contacted the librarian and have had no luck in booking the
room that we now call home, Unless the situation changes
with the library it was concluded that we would invite
ourselves to have a joint aeeting with PUG at their
regularly scheduled meeting, which is expected to be Sunday
March {5th at 1:08 p.a. Many of us would like to seet the
aeabers of the other TIMEX user BSUEa and it was
suggested that we have joint meetings at least a couple
tiaes a year. In the mean tiae every one of us aust now be
on the look-out for a new home: an office that we could
use, a ath and loan conference room, or alaost any place
with four walls, lights and 120 outlets. If everyone does
some serious searching we will surely find a new nlace

even if only for a few seetings until we can re-establish
ourselves with the library.

LKEKEKEEKEKEEKKEEEEKEKEREREREREREEERE
FEBRUARY MEETINGS
EEEREEKEEKEEKEEEKEREEEEREEEREERERSE
15 PENINSULA USER GROUP 1:00

Peninsula Hospital

17683 E1 Camino Real

Burlingame
15 SILICON VALLEY USER
Peninsula Hospital
1783 E1 Camino Real
Bur linaame

GROUP 1:00

26 EAST BAY USER GROUP 7:30
West Branch Library
1125 University Avenue

Berkeley

KXKEKEKFEREEKEREREEEKEEEKEREEREREE
MARCH MEETING

_KEKEKEEKEREREREEREEREE EERIE EER EERE

is JOINT MEETING
ALL USER GROUP S§5
Peninsula Hospital
1763 E1 Camino Real
Burlingame 1:00

273

EAST BAY 280 USER SROUP
3128 KING STREET

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94°70?
(Woody McPheeter’s!

ssssssscs

CONTACT: RUSS ENGLISH (425) 4é5-3)!8

FOURTH THURSDAY CF EACH MONTH, “I2) F.M,
VEST BRANCH | IBRARY
1125 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, BERKELEY

MEETINGS:

MAKE CHECK FOR DUES PAYABLE TO "WOCDY McPHEETERS".

PENINSULA USER GROUP
24! MICHELLE LANE

DALY CITY, CALIFORNIA 94025
(413) 878-1773

PRESIDENT: GEORGE NOCKRIDGE

THIRD SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH, 1:00 P.M,
PENINSULA HOSPITAL
1783 EL CAMING REAL, BURLINGARE

MEETINGS:

MAIL DUES T9 "PAT MORRISSEY*, 2000 CRYSTAL SPRINGS RCAD,
BLDG 21, APT 22, SAN BRUNG, CA 94056

SVS TUG SILICON VALLEY SINCLAIR TECHNOLOGY USER SROUP
6675 CLIFFORD DRIVE
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA 95014

(408) 253-3175

SESISSSSl Se

PRESIDENT: RITA CARR, (408) 738-2888, X-4579

LAST TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH, 7.00 7.2.
(FOR LOCATION OF MEETINGS, SEE ACCOMSSN GNC
CALENDAR AND SVSTUG HEWS.)

MEETINGS:
MAKE CHECK FOR DUES PAYABLE TC "SINCLIRE’.

THIS TIMELINEZ NEWSLETTER 15 A JOINT PUBLICATION OF THE THREE
TIMEX-SINCLAIR USER GROUPS IN THE SAN FRANDIGUS BAY AbcA,

NEW MEMBERS AND VISITORS ARE ALWAYS WELCSRE,

FOR FULL MEMBERSHIP (WHICH INCLUDES PARTICIPATION IN GROUP

MEETINGS. THE TIMELINEZ NEWSLETTER. TAPE LIBRARY PRIVILEGES,
AND SPECIAL EVENTS). SEND $15 ANNUAL DUES T0 ONE CF THE ABOVE
ADDRESSES WITH THE CHECK MABE PAYABLE AS INDICATED.

FOR JUST AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO THE NEWSLETTER, SEND A $10
CHECK TO ONE OF THE ABOVE GROUPS.

SEE FRONT PAGE FOR ARTICLE

IMELINE

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